diff --git a/zstor/src/actors/meta.rs b/zstor/src/actors/meta.rs
index 477a104..714ef86 100644
--- a/zstor/src/actors/meta.rs
+++ b/zstor/src/actors/meta.rs
@@ -82,6 +82,11 @@ pub struct DeleteFailure {
     pub fm: FailureMeta,
 }
 
+#[derive(Message)]
+#[rtype(result = "bool")]
+/// Message to check if the metastore is writable.
+pub struct CheckWritable;
+
 #[derive(Message)]
 #[rtype(result = "Result<Vec<FailureMeta>, MetaStoreError>")]
 /// Message for retrieving all [`FailureMeta`] objects in a [`MetaStore`] managed by a [`MetaStoreActor`].
@@ -111,10 +116,11 @@ pub struct MetaStoreActor {
 
 impl MetaStoreActor {
     /// Create a new [`MetaStoreActor`] from a given [`MetaStore`].
-    pub fn new(meta_store: Box<dyn MetaStore>) -> MetaStoreActor {
+    pub fn new(meta_store: Box<dyn MetaStore>, writeable: bool) -> MetaStoreActor {
+        log::info!("metastore actor writeable: {}", writeable);
         Self {
             meta_store: Arc::from(meta_store),
-            writeable: true,
+            writeable,
         }
     }
 }
@@ -221,6 +227,15 @@ impl Handler<SaveFailure> for MetaStoreActor {
     }
 }
 
+impl Handler<CheckWritable> for MetaStoreActor {
+    type Result = ResponseFuture<bool>;
+
+    fn handle(&mut self, _: CheckWritable, _: &mut Self::Context) -> Self::Result {
+        let writeable = self.writeable;
+        Box::pin(async move { writeable })
+    }
+}
+
 impl Handler<DeleteFailure> for MetaStoreActor {
     type Result = ResponseFuture<Result<(), MetaStoreError>>;
 
diff --git a/zstor/src/actors/zstor.rs b/zstor/src/actors/zstor.rs
index 3660d2c..2ee6819 100644
--- a/zstor/src/actors/zstor.rs
+++ b/zstor/src/actors/zstor.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 use crate::actors::{
     config::{ConfigActor, GetConfig},
-    meta::{LoadMeta, LoadMetaByKey, MetaStoreActor, SaveMeta, SaveMetaByKey},
+    meta::{CheckWritable, LoadMeta, LoadMetaByKey, MetaStoreActor, SaveMeta, SaveMetaByKey},
     metrics::{MetricsActor, ZstorCommandFinsihed, ZstorCommandId},
     pipeline::{PipelineActor, RebuildData, RecoverFile, StoreFile},
 };
@@ -138,8 +138,17 @@ impl Handler<Store> for ZstorActor {
         let pipeline = self.pipeline.clone();
         let config = self.cfg.clone();
         let meta = self.meta.clone();
+
         AtomicResponse::new(Box::pin(
             async move {
+                let meta_writeable = meta.send(CheckWritable).await.unwrap();
+                if !meta_writeable {
+                    return Err(ZstorError::new_io(
+                        "Metastore is not writable".to_string(),
+                        std::io::Error::from(std::io::ErrorKind::PermissionDenied),
+                    ));
+                }
+
                 let ft = fs::metadata(&msg.file)
                     .await
                     .map_err(|e| ZstorError::new_io("Could not load file metadata".into(), e))?
diff --git a/zstor/src/lib.rs b/zstor/src/lib.rs
index d7d4620..0928fd2 100644
--- a/zstor/src/lib.rs
+++ b/zstor/src/lib.rs
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ use compression::CompressorError;
 use config::ConfigError;
 use encryption::EncryptionError;
 use erasure::EncodingError;
-use futures::future::try_join_all;
+use futures::future::join_all;
 use meta::MetaStoreError;
 use std::fmt;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
@@ -63,17 +63,18 @@ pub type ZstorResult<T> = Result<T, ZstorError>;
 pub async fn setup_system(cfg_path: PathBuf, cfg: &Config) -> ZstorResult<Addr<ZstorActor>> {
     let metastore = match cfg.meta() {
         Meta::Zdb(zdb_cfg) => {
-            let backends = try_join_all(
+            let backends = join_all(
                 zdb_cfg
                     .backends()
                     .iter()
                     .map(|ci| UserKeyZdb::new(ci.clone())),
             )
-            .await?;
+            .await;
             let encryptor = match cfg.encryption() {
                 Encryption::Aes(key) => encryption::AesGcm::new(key.clone()),
             };
             let encoder = zdb_cfg.encoder();
+            let backends = backends.into_iter().filter_map(|res| res.ok()).collect();
             Box::new(ZdbMetaStore::new(
                 backends,
                 encoder,
@@ -88,7 +89,8 @@ pub async fn setup_system(cfg_path: PathBuf, cfg: &Config) -> ZstorResult<Addr<Z
     if let Some(mountpoint) = cfg.zdbfs_mountpoint() {
         let _ = ZdbFsStatsProxyActor::new(mountpoint.to_path_buf(), metrics_addr.clone()).start();
     }
-    let meta_addr = MetaStoreActor::new(metastore).start();
+    let meta_writable = metastore.writable();
+    let meta_addr = MetaStoreActor::new(metastore, meta_writable).start();
     let cfg_addr = ConfigActor::new(cfg_path, cfg.clone()).start();
     let pipeline_addr = SyncArbiter::start(1, || PipelineActor);
 
diff --git a/zstor/src/zdb_meta.rs b/zstor/src/zdb_meta.rs
index 6bb581b..4b1c065 100644
--- a/zstor/src/zdb_meta.rs
+++ b/zstor/src/zdb_meta.rs
@@ -114,6 +114,11 @@ where
         }
     }
 
+    /// writable returns true if the metastore is writable
+    pub fn writable(&self) -> bool {
+        self.writeable
+    }
+
     /// helper functions to encrypt and write data to backends.
     async fn write_value(&self, key: &str, value: &[u8]) -> ZdbMetaStoreResult<()> {
         debug!("Writing data to zdb metastore");